Gardner: Execute your ‘Plan A’ well

KUALA LUMPUR: You can achieve success in life if you have the passion and a clear-cut plan, says Chris Gardner, author of The Pursuit of Happyness ,a New York Times best seller.

He stresses the need to have a plan, “not just a plan, but Plan A” and to fully invest in executing it.

“When you do something you truly love, there is no Plan B. When you are passionate about what you do, there is no Plan B,” he said in an inspiring session, titled “Personal Transformation: From the Abyss to Happyness” at the Global Transformation Forum 2017 (GTF 2017) here yesterday.

Gardner said the plan should be inline with the C-5 complex — clear, concise, compelling, committed and consistent — to achieve any sort of success.

He cited examples of popular figures who made it big in life because they remained committed to Plan A, such as basketball player Michael Jordan, former United States President Barack Obama and Malaysia’s legendary badminton player Datuk Lee Chong Wei.

“Plan B sucks,” he said, calling on the audience to repeat after him. “If it were any good, it would be Plan A. Plan B distracts from Plan A.”

Gardner recalled a quote by Dr Martin Luther King Jr where the latter had said: “Whatever you do, become ‘world class’ at it. If you’re going to be a garbage man, seek to become a ‘world class’ garbage man.”

The entrepreneur and philanthropist said “world class” means “when a conversation is being held about who is the best in the business, someone says your name.

“If no one says your name, you have work to do. If no one says your name and you don’t care, get out of business, you will never be good at it. If someone who hates you says your name, you’re world class.”

Gardner said one should not feel that their future had been determined merely because of their origin or existing circumstances.

“You get your mother’s eyes, and you get your father’s nose, and you can’t do anything about it. But you can choose the person you want to become. Spiritual genetics is what makes you, you, which has got nothing to do with biological or heredity factors.”

Gardner said the award-winning film The Pursuit of Happyness, a 2006 biographical drama film based on his life, starring Will Smith, was about a critical year of his life.

“I was 28 years. Meaning there was 27 years before that. If I didn’t develop ‘the right stuff ’ in the first 27 years I wouldn’t have made it. I call it ‘spiritual genetics’.”

Gardner shared another important ingredient to happiness, which was the “permission to dream”, what he described as “a greatest gift”.

“My mother (Betty Jean